Abstract

Weightlifting exercises such as the bench press require the lifter to apply the correct technique in order of reaching the desired training goal and reducing the risk of injury. Learning the correct technique in the gym is not a straight forward task as fitness trainer may not always be available and self observation is made difficult due to the horizontal position when performing the bench press. Part of this thesis was the development of a visual assistance system for the application of the correct technique during bench pressing, The general approach to this problem was the use of the Kinect V2 as a motion capture system to get the positional data of the joints and then perform calculations needed for the analysis of the performed movements. Aspects of the bench press that were analysed as part of this system were the correct height of the bar for the completion of a repetition, an even height of the bar during the exercise, the positioning of the bar above the chest during the lowering movement of the bench press and the correct grip width. Furthermore this thesis included a user study to assess the feasability of the Kinect to detect the joints in an exercise such as the bench press, as well as the evaluation of the user interface using a usability questionnaire. When examining the feasability of the Kinect several design failures were detected which resulted in incorrect data gathered by the Kinect. The incorrect data had severe negative impacts in the detection of the correct repetition height which resulted in problems in the teaching of the correct technique. The design failure in the system resulted in inconclusive data for the valuation of the Kinect for this type of fitness exercise. The evaluation of the user interface concluded in a good  usability and excellent learnability of the system, making the visualisation an aspect of the system that could be used as a basis for future work.